[Tfug] OT: Hacker Slang

[Claude Rubinson]

On Wed, Dec 03, 2003 at 11:47:12PM -0700, Ed Wilson wrote:
> Here is my favorite non-IBM term: "re-spool the report." The meaning
> is to re-print the report. The word spool is a acronym for
> "Simultaneous Peripheral Operation On-Line" so when you respool a
> report you are Simultaneous Peripheral Operation On-Lineing it!  :)

Well, that's one story.  Xerox claims that the term stands for
"Simultaneous Printing Off and On Line."  But it's more likely that
these are all backronyms and that, if it actually ever was an acronym,
the original phrase has been lost in the dustbin of hacker-lore.  In
any case, most accounts agree that the original spooling system was
written for early IBM mainframes -- so it actually *is* an
IBM-term. :)

Claude